FOOD-OUT: Din Tai Fung, World Square, Sydney (NSW)

Of all the gin dumpling joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine Din Tai Fung.

We met another sort-of neighbour (who lives about 10 minutes away) G for an early brunch on a Monday, since we were both in Sydney at the same time. Being dumpling lovers ("oh xiaolongbao, how do I love thee, let me count the ways..."), trying out the self-proclaimed THE WORLD'S TASTIEST DUMPLING was a no-brainer decision. I wasn't holding too high expectations about how it was going to taste, as I remembered my sister(s) not being too impressed with the Din Tai Fung in Malaysia.

Anyway, we made our way to World Square, and got there at about 11.10am, and there were people already waiting for the place to open at 11:30!

The early bird gets the worm dumplings

We did a bit of shopping in World Square and returned to the restaurant at about 11:40am, and were seated quite quickly, though the queue was certainly building up.

We had to tick our orders down on a sheet of paper with the menu on it, and hand it to the wait staff. Dishes arrived fairly quickly, and we kept adding our orders, which were attended to very quickly as well ("uhmm... ONE more of this xxx, ONE more of this yyy and ONE more of this zzz...").

Lychee Mint Juice

Now THIS was something I would never dare to order, just reading it in the menu. Thankfully, The Hungry Excavator had recommended it on his blog, and I'm sure glad he did! Extremely refreshing - I'd love to try replicating this at home!

Xiaomai - steamed pork and prawn dumplings

I thought they looked odd, with the prawn placed on top of the dumpling, and tilting the top part of the dumpling to one side. Tasted nice, but nothing to shout about.

Ja Jiang Mein - Noodles with meat sauce

We decided to order noodles to add some variety to our otherwise dumpling meal. This was rather yummy - not particularly intense in flavour but it was enjoyable. Liked the texture of the noodles too! I also thought that the edamame was a great addition - they added another texture (firmness) and flavour to the dish. Mmm mm!

 Masked dumpling-making superheroes hard at work

Voila! Translucent xiaolongbao

We ordered two different types of xiaolongbao; the limited (and more expensive) crab xiaolongbaos, and the standard pork ones. What I loved most about the dumplings was the skin - so thin that you can see the soup inside the dumpling, but firm and strong enough to pick up without breaking it. Lovely.

I quite liked the crab ones, but the Husband and G didn't think too much of it. G liked the skin and textures of the dumplings, but wondered if somewhere out there there may be dumplings just like these ones with better tasting filling, as she wasn't WOWED by the flavour of the filling. I had no complaints whatsoever, as I continued to stuff my dumpling-shaped face full of dumplings.

Overall, I'd love to have a job travelling the world testing all the xiaolongbaos offered, to prove or disprove DTF's claim to World's Tastiest Dumpling, but until that happens, I'd be more than happy to come back here again on my next trip back to Sydney!